


The Sound of the Night

by FunkyWashingMachine



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Bonding, Campfires, Friendship, Gen, Loneliness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2019-10-14
Packaged: 2020-12-16 08:54:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21033596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FunkyWashingMachine/pseuds/FunkyWashingMachine
Summary: Quirrel talks with Ghost over a campfire





	The Sound of the Night

He didn't need to look up when he heard the noise. He'd already had a feeling about it.

"Hello, little friend," he said. "It's good to see you again."

And from the darkness it emerged, the little creature with the rusting nail, all full of shadows in the firelight.

Quirrel looked over and turned the spit.

"I suppose if anyone was going to find me here, it would be you, wouldn't it?"

The little creature didn't say anything.

"Just a joke," Quirrel said, turning back to the fire. "But not much of one, since it's fairly true."

The little creature stood watching. Quirrel lifted the spit with the mushroom.

"I picked this up a while back," he said, giving it a small wave. "Would you like to share it with me?"

The small one looked at the mushroom, then at him.

"Either way is fine," Quirrel said, setting it back down. He just wanted to do the friendly thing. "But it's cold tonight. Please sit here with me if you like."

He hoped that it would. It didn't sit, but it didn't leave.

In time, the mushroom began to smoke. Quirrel stuck the spit in the ground to let it cool.

"Shouldn't be long now," he said. He hadn't wanted to stop traveling, but it had been quite a lot of time and a sensible bug would have stopped to eat. He did try to be a sensible bug.

He'd have kept going after, but a sensible bug also would have stopped to sleep.

This little creature, he couldn't tell how sensible it was.

"You can tell that it's night by the sound," Quirrel said. "Have you ever just sat down and listened?"

He was listening now, to the moving of the water, the hiss of the coals, and the crackling of things far away.

He wondered if the small one was listening, too. It must have been, or why else would it have stayed?

The air was cold and the fire was soft and the world told him it was night, and the strange little creature was with him. It was strange and wonderful, all of it. The darkness had a certain kind of breathing that you could feel if you were quiet. He felt like he had almost gotten there this time.

Then he remembered the mushroom. It was cool enough to eat. It was a little beyond cool enough to eat.

"I suppose I've let it go too long," Quirrel said as he took it off the stick. "You're sure you won't have any?"

But when he looked back, the creature was gone.


End file.
